SAN ANTONIO — Advocates for 4,500 developmentally disabled Texans in nursing homes are suing the state for allegedly denying those residents access to better living.

The federal lawsuit, filed Monday in San Antonio, alleges the state isn't providing some mentally and physically disabled Texans the opportunity to move into community-based settings, which advocates say are less restrictive and more rehabilitative than nursing homes.

The suit was filed in San Antonio because three of the lead individual plaintiffs, who are 26 to 46, reside at nursing homes here.

The suit accuses the state of violating the American with Disabilities Act, and not following the federal Nursing Homes Reform Amendments to the Medicaid Act.

Catherine Frazier, a deputy secretary for Perry, said his office cannot comment on pending litigation. But Frazier said Perry is confident the state, via the Department of Aging and Disability Services, or DADS, will take the necessary steps to ensure that vulnerable Texans receive proper care and services.

The amendments to the Medicaid Act require states to screen residents of nursing homes for developmental disabilities to see if their needs can be served within the community or with less restrictive methods than at a nursing home. It also requires states to provide "specialized services and intensive treatment" so the developmentally disabled can live as independently as possible and to prevent regression.

The suit said that, since the state is not providing those services, the developmentally disabled have frequently suffered regression or stagnation in nursing homes.